Wnt Signaling Proteins
The Wnt proteins are a group of secreted lipid-modified (palmitoylation) signaling proteins of 350-400 amino acids in length. Following the signal sequence, they carry a conserved pattern of 23-24 cysteine residues, on which palmitoylation occurs on a cysteine residue. These proteins activate various pathways in the cell that can be categorized into the canonical and noncanonical Wnt pathways. Through these signaling pathways, Wnt proteins play a variety of important roles in embryonic development, cell differentiation, and cell polarity generation.
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